Coupledom Troubles
by Yukiko168
Summary: Max and Fang are finally together, life is great, global peace is achieved… YEAH RIGHT. A pubescent mutant-bird kid coupling means some interesting situations are sure to ensue. Sequel to Field Trip. FLUFF and FAX!
1. Home Again

**Coupledom Troubles, a Maximum Ride Fanfiction**

A/N: Somewhere in the world, a short, geeky girl scratches her head as she looks at her laptop screen. Blinking, she wonders out loud, "Well, if so many people want a sequel, how can I refuse?" Removing her kitty from on top of her keyboard and munching on the cookie kindly provided by ShadowAmunet, she begins to type.

For those new on the boat, I am Yukiko and this is a sequel to my other fanfic (only fanfic, actually), Field Trip. It takes place after MR4. It's not entirely necessary to read that one to get this one, but I would highly recommend it. Review while you're at it, 'kay? :D

Disclaimer: Nooou, I am not James Patterson and I do not own Maximum Ride.

**Chapter One — **

It was so strange to be back home after the long vacation. I felt oddly out of place wearing heavy clothes and walking into my own familiar house.

Mom and Total were both ecstatic to see us, of course, and they practically drowned us with questions upon our arrival home. Total was especially teary-eyed to get us back, and immediately pounced on Angel and gave her a through washing. He tried to do the same to me in turn, but I quickly convinced him to leave me alone.

Dearest daddy Jeb was also there to greet us upon our arrival home, much to my annoyance. He gave us warm welcomes as we toddled in the door, like veterans back from the war zone. Obviously, we all ignored him.

I was the first one to scent the lovely warm smell of cookies baking in the oven as I trooped into the kitchen. Whirling on Mom with a maniacal gleam in my eye, I said slowly, "Mom… do I smell cookies?"

"Yes, Max, those are for you and the flock. I thought you might want some homemade cookies after your trip, so I popped them in the oven before heading out to the airport." She gave me a warm smile and walked up behind me. "I bet you're tired," she murmured, rubbing my back gently. Pulling Ella up next to me as she walked into the kitchen, Mom ruffled her hair. "If you girls are tired, you can take a nap right now. I know the time difference is probably horrible for your internal clocks."

This was one of the reasons I loved Dr. Martinez. She was always so caring and… well, motherly. Unlike — oh, I don't know — some wacko scientists I don't care to name.

Regardless, the temptation of cookies overruled the lure of a warm bed, at least for the moment being. I shook my head. "No, I think I'll wait a while. Those cookies won't taste as good cold."

Mom smiled. "Well, you're free to go to bed whenever you like. It's a Friday, after all." Giving Ella's hair one last ruffle, she walked out of the kitchen.

The rest of the flock quickly assembled into the kitchen as well, lured by the overwhelmingly lovely smell of baking cookies. I grinned as Gazzy led the group with his nose in the air, sniffing loudly to fully appreciate the scent of the cookies. He was still hugging his suitcase.

"Gazzy, why don't you go put your suitcase in your room?" I asked him. "The cookies aren't going to disappear. In fact, they won't be ready for a while. You might as well just go put your stuff down." Nodding happily, he skipped away to drop his bags off in the room he and Iggy shared. Iggy followed, and then Nudge and Angel.

Ella looked over at me and asked, "I put my bags by the staircase, next to yours. Do you want me to go grab it and put it in our room?"

I smiled at her. "That would be great, thanks!"

She left me alone in the kitchen to savor the smells. I grinned stupidly at the oven. It had been so long since I had homemade cookies. I took a step back to lean against the kitchen counter, and hit resistance as I leaned back.

And then Fang appeared behind me, leaning nonchalantly against the sink.

I gasped, then quickly tensed, annoyed that he had scared me. "Geez, Fang—"

"And how are _we_ doing, Max?" He leaned his face down next to my ear and put a long, gangly arm around my waist.

Oh, right. Another thing out of place in my already spinning-out-of-control life. Fang.

During two week tenure in Taiwan, due to some rather unusual circumstances, Fang had confessed his long standing feelings for me. During the plane ride back, due to some likely brain damage on my part, I had confessed my own feelings towards him.

The result? We had officially entered the world of "couple-dom".

I had to hand it to the flock; they had done everything they could to get the two of us together. After my confession, Nudge and Ella had come to check on the two of us, and they admitted that they had orchestrated a great deal of it after our "fight". "We didn't want you two to break apart again, like that one time," Nudge explained, for once not ranting on and on. "We kind of made sure you two sat together."

Anyways, back to the present. Kitchen. Me and Fang. _Awkwardness_.

"W-what are y-you talking about, Fang?" Oh, great, now I had developed a lovely stutter. "I'm fine."

He gave me a small smirk, as if pleased by my discomfort. "Anything wrong, Max? Your heart seems to be reacting to something."

I gave him a light backhand slap on the cheek. "Freak."

He grinned, probably pleased that I was my normal self again. "Glad to be home?" His voice ticked my ear.

"Mmm, yes. Taiwan was fun and all, but it's nice to be able to relax in bed. I like knowing my surroundings." Relaxing a bit in his arms, I allowed myself to lean back into his chest. Maybe this couple thing wasn't so bad after all…

Suddenly, the oven alarm went off with a metallic "bzzzt", and I practically jumped out of my skin. In a flash, I had pulled away from Fang, before I even realized that it was the oven that I had heard. By the time my heart had sufficiently slowed down for me to stop jumping around like a nervous alley cat, there was already thumping coming down the stairs as the sound of five pairs of feet raced to the kitchen.

Fang was looking at me with a faintly amused expression on his face, and he quickly crossed his arms that had been thrown apart by my hurried exodus. "Max—"

"Are the cookies done!?" Gazzy burst into the room, his ribbons flapping. He had changed into jeans and a sweatshirt with a lace-up collar, and he had obviously been interrupted by the alarm as he had been tying up his shirt.

Nudge and Iggy were close behind him. Iggy was rubbing his hands together with anticipation, and Nudge was entirely focused on the oven door. Then she seemed to notice that I had been alone in the kitchen with Fang, and she stared between him and me, smiling slightly at the apparent space between the two of us. I looked away, not wanting to meet her questioning gaze. Angel and Ella popped in the doorway soon after, and then the kitchen was crowed as our whole happy little family squished inside.

"Let me through," Mom cried, as she looked into the kitchen door with some dismay. "I need to get my oven mittens on."

We quickly cleared a path for her to the oven, and she walked through, snatching up her oven mitts along the way. Opening the oven door, she slowly lifted out a steaming tray of chocolate chip cookies. As she was turning to make her way over to the dining room table, I quickly snatched one of the cookies off the tray.

"Oh, geez!" I pouted, as I transferred the cookie from one hand to another. "It's hot!" Holding it in front of me by my fingernails, I looked at the cookie longingly.

By then, the rest of the flock was slowly following Mom out of the kitchen, as if she were the Pied Piper leading her little line of mutant-bird kids. I slowly followed Iggy as he shuffled out of the door.

I couldn't wait anymore. That cookie was just begging to be eaten. Quickly, so as not to be burned, I lifted the cookie above my head and lowered it into my mouth. _Bliss_.

There came a tap on my shoulder, and I turned around in surprise. Directly behind me was Fang, his head lowered to my height. He grinned, and before I had the time to defend my claim, he had taken a bite out of my cookie.

I glared at him, ignoring the sense of déjà vu that I was remembering in the back of my mind. _The last time he had stolen a bite of my cookie…_

"You meanie," I muttered, only it came out as, "Yuph eenie." Cupping my hands protectively around the rest of my cookie, I turned and followed the crowd out of the kitchen.

The flock had already gathered around the cookie tray and were all proceeding to stuff their greedy little faces, as Mom watched on proudly. I darted over and grabbed two more cookies, before stuffing the rest of my first into my mouth. These were _divine_.

"Mom, you are amazing." I said around a mouthful of warm, oozing, chocolate chip. "This is wonderful."

"Yeah, Mom, how about another batch?" Gazzy asked, shameless. He smiled up at her cheekily. I glared at him.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Max." Mom smiled at me, rolling her eyes. "I was going to make another batch anyways." She took the second-to-last cookie and headed back into the kitchen to bake another batch.

I shook my head at Gazzy, but couldn't stay mad at him. It was too joyous a time to be mad at anyone. "If only this moment could be freeze framed," I mumbled with a sigh, "without any annoyances or threats on my life…"

Fang looked over at me with the corner of his eye, understanding showing in his glance. Lightly, he rested his arm around my waist. I leaned into him a little, basking in his warmth. Somehow, Fang always seemed to know what to do to make me feel better. I smiled up at him and tried to reach him on my tippy-toes, before I realized that a lull had fallen in the boisterous conversations around me. Glancing up and around the table, I noticed the flock looking our way, but pretending not to.

Quickly, I started to pull away from Fang again.

"Max," he sighed, his voice quiet, "you can't stay away forever." And with that, he pulled me right back into his embrace once more.


	2. By Your Side

A/N: Hey y'alls! It's meh again. Thankies for reading, everyone! I'm glad you like this story. I'm not very good at writing them stories about what happens after the couple gets together, so give me some tips please? All suggestions are greatly appreciated, and of course, all reviewers are luffled dearly.

There isn't much action just yet, just a lot of fluffy FAX-y stuffs. Think will start getting interesting in the next chappie though, so look forward to that.

Woo-hoo! I just qualified for State Debate in Interpretive Reading and Dramatic!! (Actually the two boring-est ones, second to only Oratory, due to the extreme amount of topics relating to death, murder, suicide, and drugs, not to mention self-harm in general.)

Disclaimer: Hey, it's this thing telling me to tell people I don't own anything again.

**Chapter Two —**

I stood frozen for a few seconds, before turning away from Fang's gaze. "Let me go," I mumbled, pulling at him weakly.

"Stuck like glue, are they?" Iggy asked Gazzy, who was looking at the two of us with a bewildered expression. The little twerp stared at us some more, before closing his mouth, which had been previously hanging open.

"Yup. We're sunk." Gazzy looked back and forth between me and Fang, obviously wondering what would happen now.

"Aww, don't be like that, Gaz. It's really cute, don't you think so?" Angel pulled on her brother's arm. "They've liked each other for so long, couldn't you tell?" She turned back to Nudge, who had a cookie hanging out of her mouth. "We did a pretty good job, didn't we?"

"Mmm-ph." Stuffing the rest of the cookie into her mouth, Nudge added, "It was Ella's idea though. She thought it was high time the two of you got together." She looked back and forth between me and Fang. "I must say, you two look totally cute together. It's like, destiny, or something. Do you believe in destiny? I think it's a really romantic concept. I mean, to live a life that's planned out ahead of time… doesn't it sound so… so…"

"Stupid?" Iggy finished, shaking his head. "Do you seriously think that we live in a world planned out by fate?" Just as Nudge was opening her mouth to speak, Iggy added quickly, "That was a rhetorical question. Don't answer it."

I sighed, this time resolutely pulling away from Fang. "Okay, that's enough. We are still the same people, and I am still the leader of this flock. Nothing has changed—"

"Does that mean you guys have been together for a long time?" Iggy wondered, hiding a smile under his hand.

I gave him a good whack on the head.

Ella smiled at me and gave me a sisterly hug. "Don't tell me you aren't happy with these new developments, Max." She looked at me, pursing her lips, and then positioned me in front of Fang. "Pretty as a picture," she said with a grin, then raised an arm to move me like an oversized Barbie doll again.

I was really starting to get freaked out by all this attention, so I quickly dodged Ella's arm and muttered, "I'm going to go take a nap now. You guys have fun."

Then I practically flew up to the room I shared with Ella.

This couple thing was a nightmare. How was I supposed to deal with this? I was the leader of the flock, not some preppie mooning over her new boyfriend. Suddenly, I blushed. Was that what Fang was to me now? A boyfriend? The term tasted unfamiliar on my tongue, and I wondered at the implications of the simple word. Climbing up onto my bed that I hadn't slept in for more than two weeks, I stretched out on the smooth covers.

A couple moments later, the door to my room opened. I sat up quickly, looking at the door, hoping that it wasn't…

In strode Total.

Oh, please no.

"Total, what are you doing in here?"

He gave me a hurt look before hopping up on my bed. "I haven't seen you for forever and a day. Am I not allowed to say hi?" He clambered into my lap and sat down. "Could you scratch the itch on my back now?"

With a sigh, I started scratching his furry backside. "Here?"

"Ooh, yeah, right there. Keep on scratching." His tail gave a few soft thumps, and then he turned and gave my finger a little lick. Eww.

"So what's the real reason you're in here, Total?" I asked with a sigh, picking him up and putting him next to me on the bed as I lay back down again. He trotted up to my face, which was now unfortunately at his level. I quickly sat back up before he could give my face a thorough washing.

"Well, I heard from a little birdie that you and Fang—"

"Which little birdie?" I glared at him. "Tell me now."

He rolled his eyes at me. "It doesn't matter. Just a birdie. Anyways, I heard that during the Taiwan trip you and Fang—"

"It so does matter," I interrupted again, pursing my lips. "Who is it?"

"No one of consequence. Now, about the Fang and you—"

"Nope. Tell me."

"Will you stop interrupting me every time I put your name and Fang's name together? I was just trying to have a nice heart-to-heart chat with you!" Total frowned at me unhappily as I gave him a withering glare. "As I was saying, I heard that you and Fang are an item now. Now, as the official guardian of the flock and the protector of innocent minds, I want to remind you that even though you two are together, you must remember to keep yourselves in check at all times and be sure to practice abstinence—"

I think I choked on my own spit. I stared at him for a few seconds, twitching, before regaining control of myself. "That is _it_, Total, you are _so_ out of here."

"What did I do?" Total asked innocently, hopping off the bed with a light thud.

"_Out_." I pointed to the open door, in case he didn't catch my drift.

He trotted over to the door, and was about to leave when he paused. "Was it something I said?" He wondered out loud, at which I practically screamed, "_Get outta my room!!_"

Total left, shaking his head. I heard his soft paw steps pause in the hallway, and then he hissed, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I think she's hit that _you-know-what_ stage. You know. _Puberty_."

"No," I shrieked out the door, "I'm actually menopausal right now!!"

There was a familiar chuckle outside of my bedroom, and then the Prince of Darkness entered the room. "That's nice to know," he said, smirking at my furious expression. "I'll be sure to remember that."

"Fang, what are you doing in here!?" I cried, trying to hide my annoyance and embarrassment. "Are you _trying_ to spread rumors?"

"No, I was _trying_ to go to sleep, before you started shrieking at the top of your lungs. I figured something was wrong, so I decided to check on you." He grinned. "Or do women normally scream when they're in menopause?"

"Fang, you need to go away now."

"No, I think I'll stay here a while," he replied, sitting down on my fluffy comforter which was now rather rumpled. "Just to make sure you don't try to kill yourself or anything. Women entering menopause tend to sink into depression, I've heard."

"And how do you — of all people — know so much about this topic?" I raised an eyebrow, starting to enjoy the playful bantering.

"Do you doubt me?"

"Yes."

"Truly?" His eyes had lost their trace of playfulness now, and he looked at me quite seriously. With one swift movement, he bent down above me and caged me between his hands. I couldn't help but inhale sharply as he looked at me with a deep and piercing expression. "Because I would never doubt you. I swear to you that I will stay by your side forever."

Gently, he bent down gave my forehead a light kiss.

I really didn't know what to do. Where did Fang learn all of these lines? "Uh, well… I was, uh— er, I mean, I don't actually doubt you… that is... gah. I'm going to sleep." Turning over so that I was facing away from him, I stared at his arm, which was right next to me.

There was silence for the longest time, as neither of us moved. And then he slowly pulled up and away from me. Placing a finger gently on my cheek, he caressed my face tenderly before leaving the room silently. I heard my door shut softly, and then I was alone.

Placing a hand over my cheek, I feel asleep with his touch lingering on my face.


	3. Premonition of Trouble

A/N: I feel happeh! I've just been reading manga for the past four hours straight!! Whee~

So I disappeared off the face of the earth. Sorry. After AP tests and stuff, I was really tired and I wanted to get away from the computer for a while. Thus, been taking a short hiatus from writing, but now I'm refreshed and restored and ready to write! (Translation: Got hooked on a new manga series and been reading it ten hours a day. Please don't hurt me.)

Sorry I can't give comments to everyone, but there's been a lot of comments this time… I will be replying to a few every time from now on. Sorry!

To Malabsorbent: Ahh!! Thank you! I luffles you so much! I've never gotten such a nice comment and you have really inspired me to work harder at my writing!! Oh my goddess, I'm so happy!! :tears of joy: And I do try to write like James Patterson, because I like to preserve the authenticity of the piece. I'm so glad you noticed!! And yes, rest assured, this story will probably be lasting a while~

To amyandricky4ever: I don't think I will be doing that. Max is only fourteen in my story, and I want my story to be cute and fluffy… I may decide to put in a few… ah, adult themes in here, though? (laughs)

To i-am-a-warrior: Oh, wow I didn't know that. Regardless, expect a lot more cheesy lines like that from now on! :D

To Katniss212, Fax-Addict, Livia150, ShadowAmunet, Chibi Ookami Tora: Aww, thank you! Please continue to support me in my rambling aspirations!

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, I'm a student, no money, not mine, don't sue.

**Chapter Three —**

I awoke to the sound of my alarm ringing shrilly by my ear. Freaking great.

With a low groan, I slowly sat up in bed. Why couldn't our school start at ten? I sat for a while longer, bemoaning this unnecessary disturbance. Then, kicking back the covers, I got up and started to get dressed.

Have I ever told you I hate school uniforms? If I haven't, then I have now. I _hate_ school uniforms. They're tacky looking, stiff-backed, and they make me look like some kind of genetically-altered mutant _clone_. Not that I'm saying I'm not genetically altered or a mutant or anything, but at least I'm not a clone.

Then again, seeing as I don't know how the psychopaths back at the school made Max 2, I can't be sure about that one either.

So I guess that argument doesn't work then.

_Regardless_, I still hate school uniforms, because… oh, why am I even talking about this? Has my life truly gotten so dull that I've been reduced to this level?

"_Maaaaxx!! Iggy set Total on fire and I think the house is about to burn down!_"

No. No, my life will never be dull.

-----

"How did you even do that, Iggy? I can't believe you. You have seriously out stepped even yourself this time." I shook my head in blatant disbelief as the seven of us high-tailed it out the door to school. Saint Valentine's Private School for Advanced Children, in case any of you don't know, and in case you live by it, I should warn you to never _ever _come here. Take my word on it; it's for noble-borne prissies.

"It was _awesome_! I mean, it barely even made a sound when it exploded! I can't believe using a muffler would work so well. I mean, we would never get caught if we could figure out how to work this better!!" Gazzy was ecstatic, prancing back and forth around out tightly knit group.

"You covered it with your _pants_." I sighed, rubbing my temples. Massive headache coming on, and we had just come out the door.

Gazzy grinned back at me triumphantly. "Yeah, but I figured that as long as the top half didn't get burnt, I would be okay. And it didn't!"

"You're missing seven inches on your left pant leg."

"Your point?"

I pulled the white sailor tie off of my blouse, and waved it in mock surrender. "Fine, Gazzy, you win. But you're gonna hafta wear those pants for the rest of the week before Mom gets a replacement pair."

"Oh well," he smiled cheerfully, "it was totally worth it."

Iggy must have figured that I wasn't mad at him, so he piped up, "So does that mean that we can—"

"No."

"I haven't even asked you—"

"I don't need to know."

"But—"

"What part of _no_ do you not understand? You practically turned Total into a hot dog." Secretly, I didn't feel too much pity for Total, especially after his _lecture_ yesterday, but I had to say something, or else Angel would throw a fit.

Glancing sideways at her, I hoped she wasn't reading my mind.

I felt a light touch on my shoulder, and I turned to see Fang leaning dangerously close to me. He reached around me and grabbed the tie I was still holding. "What the—"

"Can you really not tie a ribbon, Max?"

"I can too! I just didn't have time to do it before we left the house! And anyways, it's a tie, not a ribbon." I absolutely do_ not_ wear ribbons.

Fang sighed. "It's a ribbon. _This_ is a tie." He pointed to the tie that he had neatly knotted onto his collared shirt. I was about to protest, but he shook his head at me. "Wearing a ribbon is no more girly than wearing a tie, I swear." I glared at him, annoyed that he had guessed my concerns. "Here." Deftly, he started tying the… _ribbon _onto my blouse. I let him, because in truth, I really had no idea how to tie it.

In moments he was done. "Thanks."

Examining the ribbon, I noticed the clean folds and the smooth knot, and vowed to learn how to do that someday. I gave him a grudging grin, and he smiled back. Leaning in to whisper in my ear, he murmured, "By the way, you have a button out of alignment. I would fix it for you, but we're in public right now…"

I spluttered, and turned around to give him a fist to the jaw, but he had dodged aside already, laughing. Red faced, I chased him, and the flock followed after the two of us, Ella running to catch up in the rear, until we reached the school.

By the time we got through the front double doors, we were all in good spirits and joking amongst ourselves. Because of our field trip, it felt like we had just come back to school from summer vacation, and everyone was looking rather refreshed and carefree. I grinned. Despite all my complaints, there was something calming about having a real mom and sister, and knowing that my flock was safe and in the vicinity and that we would always have a place to turn to.

"Back to school again," I shrugged, nodding my head amiably.

"Fun, fun." Fang added, as the two of us walked to our first class together.

My schedule, in case any of you are interested, starts with English, then Math, Biology, and then followed World History. After lunch — and I do mean _directly_ after lunch — I have Gym and finally Health. The only class I like? Despite it being after lunch, Gym. I have English and World with Iggy, Math and Health with Ella, and English, Gym, and Health with Fang. The rest of the flock are too young to be in the same classes as me.

Iggy joined us a few minutes later, after he and Gazzy split into different halls. "Did we have any English homework before the field trip?"

"Yeah. We were supposed to write an essay about our trip," Fang supplied.

"What!?" Both Iggy and I turned to stare at him.

"It's due today."

"Well, _crap_." I spun on him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you knew." He looked at me passively. "It's due today, you know."

"Freaking freak." We walked a little ways more in silence. Mrs. Becketson wasn't a very strict teacher… maybe if I made up some sort of sob story…

"Okay, how about this? My computer crashed and I couldn't—"

"We use the same computer."

"Aww, shut up." I glared at him. "It's your fault for not reminding me that we have a paper due today. Now promise me you'll back me up."

"And I suppose I printed out my essay before the computer crashed?"

"Good idea!"

Fang sighed pensively and rolled his eyes at me. "Fine."

I grinned. There had been no Eraser attacks for at least a month, I was getting enough to eat, the flock was safe, and Fang was my… well, my boyfriend. Life was looking up.

This itself was extremely worrying.


	4. Meeting New Friends?

A/N: Hey y'alls, I'm having a major case of writer's block, so please, _please _help me. I've never really written anything, even in my own stories, that goes beyond the whole "couple getting together" phase. If any of you have any suggestions at all, _please_ review or pm me or something. I could really use the help!

Another thing. I figured that some of you might be wondering why I don't add in that much action or adventure into my stories. That's because I figure JP has put in enough of that into his series. Y'all don't really need anymore of that; however, he rarely puts any romance in his stories, although everyone can see the obvious attraction between Fang and Max. _I'm_ here to satisfy the rabid feelings of the otaku fangirl, by putting in enough FAX to make most people sick, with just enough action to fit with the style of James Patterson's writing. Okies, just wanted to justify that one.

Umm, I'll do some review replies later, no internet connection now. However, let me just add that this chappie is a bit longer; I think someone requested that.

Disclaimer: Mwahahahaha! I am James Patterson! …okay, I'm joking, don't hurt me.

**Chapter Four —**

"I don't get this!" I moaned, as I tugged at my hair.

"Don't get what?" Fang asked, as he slid into the chair next to me. Iggy was holding onto his shirt-tail, and he slid into the chair on Fang's other side.

"Biology!" I exclaimed, stretching my lab book taunt in front of me. "Why in hell should I care about the gametophyte and sporophyte generations of a freaking _fern_!?"

"Should've taken chemistry," he nodded wisely at me. "Chem is easier than bio, if you ask me, although memorizing the periodic tables is a major hassle." He dipped his breadstick into his French onion soup, then bit into it eagerly.

"Screw this." I flipped the heavy book onto the table and pulled my lunch towards me. "Whatever, I'll just fail that class." With zeal, I dug into my lunch.

"Does anyone want to tell me what I'm about to bite into?" Iggy asked, holding up some kind of mush wrapped in a thin pita.

I blinked. "What did you _order_, Ig?"

"The special." His nose twitched. "It smells rather… interesting, so I'm not quite sure I want to find out what's inside by taste-test."

"Get a burger or something next time, and do us all a favor." I turned back to my cheeseburger.

It was only the three of us, because we had three separate lunch periods due to the large class sizes. Angel and Gazzy had the first lunch, while Fang, Iggy, Ella, and I had third. Poor Nudge was stuck in the middle, the only one with second lunch. Briefly, I wondered how she was doing by herself. She was probably the most laid-back of us all — though that wasn't saying much — so she should be able to make friends easily enough.

"Hey, Max!" Ella came up to our table, her tray loaded with food. She sat down next to me, smiling happily. "How's class been?"

"Ugh, don't remind me." I rolled my eyes at her. "You really need to explain some of those math concepts to me. I'm totally lost."

Ella nodded as she spread some thousand island dressing over her salad. "Yeah, math isn't exactly my favorite subject either." She opened her workbook. Her handwriting was neat and clean, each assignment labeled with the problems and the date, as well as separate sections sticky-noted. "I wanna get the homework done so I don't have to take the textbook home."

I stared at her as she flipped the book open to a bookmarked page. "Yeah, right, you have trouble with math." I rolled my eyes. "Hey, if you're not going to eat that, Ella, can I have it?" I pointed to the breadstick she had set to the side of her tray.

"Sure, feel free."

Grinning, I grabbed her breadstick and stuffed it into my mouth.

It's been nearly a week since the trip to Taiwan ended. Everything has calmed down somewhat, and we were all getting back into our old schedules. The jet lag was also righting itself, although I still experienced sudden bouts of fatigue. We were all happy that it was Friday and that the weekend was nearly in sight.

Quickly finishing up my lunch, I dumped my tray and sat back down, pulling my health book out. I never did my health homework at home, because I didn't like taking the textbook home, so I always just did it after I finished my lunch. Scribbling on a worksheet with my head down, I didn't notice anyone coming over to our table before I saw a pair of feet standing right by my side.

Looking up, I saw Isabelle standing next to me, with four of her friends in tow.

"Hey, Max, hey Ella!" She pulled up a chair and wedged herself next to me, next to Ella, who gave her a smile before going back to her math homework. "Have I introduced you to my friends?" Before I had a chance to say anything, she pointed behind her and started introducing the four people who were standing around us rather awkwardly. "So this is Stephen, he's my neighbor. I've known him since fourth grade." She pointed to a tall boy with a shock of blonde hair that was at odds with his rather dark skin.

"Sup, y'all." He pulled up a chair between me and Isabelle, collapsing in it with a sigh. Ella quickly pulled all of her stuff over and sat next to Iggy.

"You guys can all sit down, if you want." She seemed oblivious to all the dirty looks I (not to mention Fang and Iggy) was giving her. The other three, two girls and a guy, all sat down on Isabelle's other side. I tried to keep the grimace off my face.

"Over there is Sherri, and this is Lisa. We have a lot of the same classes." Isabelle pointed to a peppy brown-haired girl and an Asian girl with rather odd green eyes in turn. I recognized Sherri from English and Health, and Lisa from World History. Then, she turned to the last boy, pointing out, "And he's Johannes. You know him, right Ella?"

Looking up, Ella nodded. "Yep, we're in band together." I knew him too, from Gym and Biology.

"Anyways, that's Ella, you know her. This is Max, Nick, and Jeff, and they started school here this year. They're siblings, and they have three other younger sibs in the other lunches." Turning to her friends, she added, "They were adopted. Their parents are missionaries."

"So anyways," continued Isabelle, who seemed to have just noticed the rather tense atmosphere, "I thought you guys looked pretty lonely over here, so I decided we could merge tables." She grinned at me, and then Fang and Iggy, as if trying to lighten the atmosphere. None of us grinned back, although I tried to give her a smile that turned into a grimace. We weren't exactly people-persons, if you know what I mean.

"So," started Stephan, as he leaned back dangerously in his chair. "Seven siblings, huh? That must be pretty stressful." Rocking back and forth in his chair, he glanced over at me. "You're in my math class, aren't you?"

"Yeah." I pretended to be engrossed with eating my lunch.

"Wow — Max, was it? Aren't you the oldest? You must have a heck of a time at home. I never knew you had this many siblings."

"Yeah, neither did I." I muttered.

"Pardon?"

"I said, what a surprise."

"So, Jeff." Sherri was advancing on Fang, who had been slowly scooting his chair closer to me in a protective stance. "We're in a lot of the same classes together, huh? English, health… chemistry, right?" She gave him a dazzling smile that made me tense and clench my teeth together.

Fang stood up abruptly. "My name's not Jeff." Dumping his tray in the nearest garbage can, he stalked off, leaving me staring after him in a mixture of relief and amusement.

Clearing my throat, I turned back to the surprised people at my table. "Sorry, Nick has a bit of a temper." Sherri looked crestfallen, while Johannes looked amused and wasn't afraid to show it. Stephan rolled his eyes.

"Man, you really have your work cut out for you, Max." He eyed me appreciatively. My good mood burst like a bubble. "So hey, does Max stand for something? Like… uh, Maxine or something?" He ran his fingers through his hair, cocking his head at me.

I glared at him. Slamming my textbook shut, I dropped it into my backpack and slung the backpack over my shoulder. "No, it's Max. Just Max." Throwing away my empty tray, I followed Fang's footsteps out of the cafeteria.

Before I left, I realized that I had just left poor Iggy alone at the table. Oh well. Ella could direct him to his next class.

Swinging the large double doors open, I stepped out into the courtyard… and crashed head on into Fang.

"Oww!" I fell backwards, landing with a thump against the door, while Fang stumbled backwards, his hand on his chin. "What, Fang!? What _the hell_ are you doing here? I thought you left!" He peered down at me, grimacing in pain and rubbing his jaw. Reaching his hand out, he helped me up. I glared at him, realizing in annoyance that he had been shooting up this past year. The top of my head was already level with his nose, and by banging into him, I had only bumped into his jaw.

The pain in my butt and my new realization made me sharp with him. "So were you interested in that girl after all? Regretting your hurried exodus?" I glared at Fang, crossing my arms over my chest. "Well?"

"You are one annoying mutant, has anyone told you that?" Fang winced as he spoke. "I was just making sure you were okay."

"I don't_ need_ anyone making sure I'm okay. I can do fine by myself."

"Are you going to force me to give you a better reason?"

"You know me well."

Fang rolled his eyes. "Fine. Truthfully, I didn't want that Stephan guy hitting on you. He seemed a little too interested in your general welfare." He glanced at me. "Happy now that you've made me swallow my pride?"

I gulped. This reason was definitely better than the one that I was afraid of, but hearing the words out of his mouth made me blush. Fang was worried that someone would hit on me — for once, it wasn't the other way around. "Oh, okay then." I quickly turned around, before realizing that I couldn't exactly go back into the lunchroom. "Uh, well then—" I tried to duck around Fang, who had now advanced on me so that he was suddenly alarmingly close.

"Not so fast." He grabbed my arm. "Since we're both free for the rest of lunch, why don't we walk around or something?"

"Right." I was still a little red-faced, but overall I was ridiculously pleased — not that I would ever tell that to Fang. "So I guess we've both ruined the whole 'first impression' thing with Isabelle's friends, huh?" I glanced up at Fang. He was looking directly at me. I looked away, not sure what his stare meant. "Uh, Fang?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you thinking about right now?"

"I was thinking that I couldn't care less about what Isabelle's friends think of me." He stuck his tongue out at me.

"Well, Mom and Jeb said that we should at least make a conscientious effort to fit in." I rolled my eyes. As if we would ever be able to fit into a world filled with humans completely oblivious to the drama unfolding around them.

"And you care about what Jeb says… why?"

"Well, Mom said the same thing."

"Uh-huh."

"Oh, stop it." I laughed, elbowing him gently in the ribs. "Eh, _Jeff_?"

"What did you call me, _Maxine_?"

"Freak."

"That's not something you should call your new boyfriend, not to mention your adorable adopted sibling."

"The day you become adorable is the day I start calling you 'my sweet little bunny boy'. Anyways, 'freak' is a term of endearment." (A/N: I also use freak as a term of endearment. Ask anyone I know.)

"Oh really? Endearment, huh? You must have had a tough childhood. I wonder what kinds of words you use to curse people."

"As if you didn't share my childhood. Bunny boy."

"Kitty girl."

"Eww," I cried, trying to contain my laughter. We were nearing the school boundaries, and I pulled Fang down as I sat down on a curb.

He gave me one of his rare smiles, one that seemed to be appearing for me more and more often. "So you get to call me bunny boy but I don't get to call you kitty girl?"

"Nope."

"How about just kitten then?"

"No way!"

"Sex kitty?"

"You freak!" I whacked him on the arm, this time a bit more forcefully.

"Aww, I love you too."

I rolled my eyes. "Now that was scary. I thought I heard the almighty Fang say the word 'love'. Maybe I should start running away now."

Fang grabbed my hand, planting a kiss on my palm. "I don't care where you run. I'll chase you forever. To the ends of the earth. To hell."

"To the School?"

"Eh, maybe not there."

"You are a sorry excuse for a boyfriend, you know that?" Glancing around surreptitiously, I made sure there was no one around before I laid my head on Fang's shoulder.

"Max."

"Hmm?" I turned to face him.

And Fang gently brushed his lips against mine in a feather-light kiss. Softly, he brushed my hair away from my forehead and placed a second kiss there. My heart soared, thumping hard against his shoulder as he pulled me closer to him. "Am I still a sorry excuse for a boyfriend?"

"Well. Well, uh, I guess I can take back my last comment, if that's what you want." I looked up at him, wanting to kiss him again, yet embarrassed to start it. Fang must have had the same feelings as me, because he dipped down again. Our lips were inches apart…

And then we were shocked apart as the bell rang right above our heads.

"Wahhh!!" Adrenaline was pounding through my veins and I was tensed for a fight. Across from me, Fang was in a similar state. We both froze in a defensive position, and then our eyes met. Suddenly, we both burst into laughter.

"That… was… pretty… sad." I managed to huff out between fits of giggles. Fang nodded, hiding his chuckles behind a hand. Together, we headed for the gym.

We had finally calmed down by the time we reached the double doors that led to the lockers, the gym, and the auditorium. Fang was opening the door when he looked back at me, a sparkle in his dark eyes.

"Sex kitty."


	5. Gym Class

A/N: Yukiko's back in town! -bows-

Hey, no one's clapping! Oh well, that's okay. I love you guys anyways. So here is the greatly awaited chapter five. Let me apologize in advance… it kinda sucks. But this chapter and chapter six are the bases for a few much less sucky chapters on the Athletics Tournament, so look forward to that!

But hey, if anyone has any requests for happy fun romance between Max and Fang, bounce 'em off of me and I'll see if I can add them!

No, no one's getting beat up here, localisedmorphia, but if you really want something like that I guess I could try to add it in during the climax or something. Malabsorbent, thanks for pm-ing me twice and putting up with my ninny-ish crap in not updating. You rock! Thanks for thought, ShadowAmunet; I guess I can't really try to get people to come up with ideas for me, eh? xxShadows of a Ravenxx, I hope you didn't choke too bad. But thanks for the encouragement; it's always great to know that people are laughing.

Disclaimer: Fangy-poo~ I love you~ Please marry me? I don't own you or any of the other Maximum Ride characters, but if you'd just marry me…

**Chapter Five —**

Have I ever told you that I really love gym class? Well I do. It's probably one of the only classes in this whole gosh-durned school that I actually excel at, the other being advanced creative writing.

I'm joking. Sarcasm, folks, you gotta have it.

Anyways, gym. In case any of you don't know, there's these wacko scientists who decided to play around with my genes a bit. On the bright side, this enhanced my overall physical ability by about three hundred percent, so I'm pretty much somewhere on the range of those champion Olympic athletes you see on TV.

On the other hand, I'm also a mutant-genetically-altered-freakish-bird-kid-and-who-knows-what-else, so I'm pretty sure I won't be entering the races anytime soon, at least those that require screening before hand. After all, who knows what freakish things I might be accused of with my one-hundred-twenty heart rate?

Grabbing my gym clothes, I quickly staked my claim on one of the two bathrooms that we have available to us in the girl's locker rooms. I was one of the only ones who bothered to use the bathroom to change, the other two being a four foot tall Asian and a three hundred pound Russian girl by the name of Olga. However, I _do_ have my reasons for this, the main one being the fact that I have fourteen feet long wings growing on my back, courtesy of the above-mentioned wacko scientists. Gotta love genetic engineering.

During our trip to Taiwan I uncovered a way to make my wings lie flatter on my back, by taking some thin cloth strips and tying my wings down. This doesn't exactly help my phobia of being unable to fly away from danger, but at least it allows me and the rest of the flock to wear something other than sweatshirts.

In this case, it would be our P.E. uniforms, which consists of a large white t-shirt and loose black shorts. Not exactly high fashion, but at least it didn't emphasize the abnormal curves I had on my back.

Hurrying out of the locker rooms where clumps of giggling girls sat comparing boys and bras and I don't know what else, I headed over to the gym, where a small group of students were already starting their stretches. Most of them were boys, although there were a few girls among them. I saw Fang sitting on the bleachers tying his shoes, so I began trotting over to him.

I was halfway across the gym when someone crashed into me from behind. "'Scuse me!" I turned to see Johannes waving an apology to me as he ran off. Growling under my breath, I ran the last few yards to join Fang on the bleachers.

"Hey." I kept my voice light, still exhilarated by our close contact from a few minutes ago.

"Hey yourself." He tilted his head at me, one side of his mouth twitching up into a half-smirk.

"I refuse to be taunted by you, _Nick_."

"Who says I'm taunting you, sex kit—"

I slapped a hand over his mouth before he could finish his sentence. "Nah-uh-uh. No more stupid nicknames. I am Max. You are Nick. We don't want anyone thinking that we have anymore than a sibling relationship, now do we?"

Fang rolled his eyes in response. Reaching up, he removed my hand from over his mouth and then set it down in his lap. Playing with my fingers lightly, he smiled. "Of course we don't."

I ground my teeth together, praying to whatever God might be living up there among the clouds to give me patience. And strength. Because truth be told, I didn't really want to take my hand out of his at the moment.

Girls started flowing into the gym in clusters, and a few seconds later, the bell rang. People started heading over to where I was sitting in the bleachers with Fang. I hastily withdrew, sliding a few inches away from Fang as the first people sat down in wait for roll call.

Mr. Hasten, our gym teacher, walked in with his clipboard and started taking attendance. Meanwhile, I sat and fidgeted, wondering the important and numerous worries that all great leaders must wonder at some point. Was Iggy doing okay in his classes? Had Gazzy killed anyone with his special intestinal skills yet? Had Angel started mind controlling her teachers? Were my wings showing in the back of my shirt? Were Isabelle's friends going to continue hitting on Fang? And would Fang kiss me again soon?

Okay, so maybe not especially important worries, but you have to admit, they are pretty numerous.

Mr. Hasten interrupted my musings as he gave a loud clap. "Welcome back to school," he started, his deep voice reaching clear up to the last row of the bleachers, where I sat. "It's a new trimester, and that means we're going to be having our fitness testing today. This way, we can compare results with those of first trimester and see how you guys improved. Our school-wide Athletics Tournament is also coming up soon, so by taking the tests now, you will be cleared for the tournament before the rest of the school, so you guys can avoid the testing rush in a few weeks."

The flock had transferred here sometime during the middle of the first trimester, and thus I had managed to avoid the fitness exam at the beginning of the year. However, there was no avoiding it this time, and naturally, the mention of a fitness testing brought yet another worry to mind. I was reminded of the diabolical exams that I had to take at the school, where I was hooked up to an accelerating treadmill and told to run for three hours straight while my heartbeat and breathing rate were measured and charted. The thought sent shudders rippling down my spine. What if they took my heartbeat? How would I explain my unnatural one-twenty bpm? I glanced at Fang; he too, had become tense at the mention of fitness testing.

"Please get a partner and line up on the white lines, one on this line and one over here." Mr. Hasten was oblivious to our stares as he pointed to double white lines on the side of the gym with his pen. I looked at Fang, a warning in my eyes.

"If anything happens, you'll fall and I'll take you to the health room." I muttered as we stood up.

Fang glared at me, mouthing, "Why can't you fall?"

I walked calmly down the bleachers as if nothing was wrong. "Because I'm the leader. No arguments." Down at the bottom of the bleachers, I pulled Fang next to me on the white line and gave him a fake grin. "You ready?" I asked, with false cheeriness. It was a warning to follow my directions under the cover of an innocent question. Still glaring, Fang gave a curt nod.

A girl walking up to us looked like she wanted to ask Fang to be her partner, but one glance at his face (Fang's glaring face can be quite scary to an outsider) made her swiftly angle away in a different direction.

"Alright, do you all have partners?" Mr. Hasten asked, as he swiftly paired up two girls who had gone to him after most of the class was already partnered up. "Great. We will start with flexibility and body fat composition. The first," he paused, counting the groups, "eleven groups will do the flexibility test with my TA, Alyssa. The rest of you, come with me. When you're done with your test, tell either me or Alyssa your scores, then change lines. When you're done with both tests, wait over by the mats."

I walked over to the flexibility test with Fang. There were three contraptions on the ground, and a short mousey girl holding a clipboard, whom I guessed to be Alyssa, sat at the front of them. "You all know how the test works, right?" Alyssa's voice was small and squeaky. "Just put one foot flat on this board, and then slide your hands along this ruler. Your partner is in charge of seeing how far your hands reach. Do this with both your left foot and your right foot. When you're done, tell me the numbers and I'll record them. Ask me if you have any questions." Abruptly, she sat and started doodling on her hand with a Sharpie.

I got in the first line with Fang, then turned to do a sweep. Everything seemed to be fine. There was a tap on my shoulder, and I spun quickly to find Johannes behind me. He seemed surprised by how fast I reacted, then blinked and gave a half-smile. "Sorry about bumping into you earlier," he said, looking at me. I blinked at him, wondering what he expected me to say. There was an awkward pause, and then he added, "I hope you're okay."

"I'm fine." I muttered, thinking in the back of my head that his half-smile looked oddly similar to Fang's. Then I turned around again, only to find Fang glaring at me again. "What?" I mouthed at him, blinking in confusion.

He shrugged, then turned around again. I was unable to inquire further because we had just reached the front of the line. Sitting down, he stretched his right leg out and put his foot against the board underneath the flat surface with a ruler on it. I sat at the front of it, watching as he slid his hands along the side of the ruler. "Thirteen inches," I announced, "other leg now." He gave me a look as if to say, yeah, I know, then changed feet. "Twelve and a half."

"Beat that," he said, his glare gone.

I got twelve inches for both feet, a fact that annoyed me to no end. Fang said nothing, but I could almost feel the smugness rolling off of him in waves. Then he looked back at Johannes doing his test, and one eyebrow twitched downwards in response. I was familiar enough with Fang's emotions that I knew he was annoyed, so I turned too, to find that Johannes had scored fifteen and a half inches on his test. Rolling my eyes, I pulled Fang over to the body composition test.

This one was the one I was worried about. There was a scale-like thing on the ground, and I was worried about what it measured. Would it measure my heart rate? Would it discover that I had more than just lungs in me that took in air? Watching the girl currently testing, I was relieved to find that all Mr. Hasten asked for was height, and all the machine measured was weight and body fat percentage. I was very light for my height, yes, but it wasn't inhumanly abnormal.

I waited in line with Fang as the line slowly inched forward. Mentally, I prepared what to say to Mr. Hasten if he questioned me about my weight. When it was my turn, I took off my shoes and stepped up to the scale. "What's your name?" Mr. Hasten asked, looking at his clipboard.

"I'm Max Martinez, I'm five feet six inches," I told him, and then stepped on.

As Mr. Hasten entered in numbers and the small computer connected to the scale hummed, I willed my heart to stop beating so fast. A minute later, he looked up from the display and frowned at me. "Max, have you had your growth spurt yet?"

I didn't know what to answer, so I said, "Um, I don't know."

"I would guess not, seeing as you're currently eighty-five pounds. Are you sure you're eating correctly? Someone your height should be at least one hundred pounds at your age. Do you eat breakfast everyday?"

"Um, yes." I mentally slapped myself. I should have said no, to give him a reason for my weight!

"Well, maybe you still need to grow some more." He eyed me suspiciously, then shrugged. "You're body fat composition is seven percent. That's also very low; the average for a girl your age is between fourteen and thirty two percent. But that should increase as you have your growth spurt." He waved me off and I retrieved my shoes from Fang.

Waiting off to the side, I watched as Fang stepped onto the scale. "F—Nick Martinez, five eleven." There was a pause as the computer whirred.

Mr. Hasten stared at the screen, one eyebrow raised in disbelief. "Nick, are you sure you're five eleven?"

Fang shrugged.

"I'm going to have to change your height to a lower number, because I'm coming up with a negative body fat percentage," Mr. Hasten muttered, as he looked intently at the screen, as if it was holding secrets that it wasn't telling him. "That has happened a few times to me before, but never for someone of your height."

Fang shrugged.

"Okay, there. I changed it to five feet nine inches, and came up with a two percent body fat composition. You're ninety two pounds, Nick, a dangerously low number for a boy your height and age. You should be around one forty pounds, at least. You're getting enough to eat at home, aren't you?"

Fang shrugged.

I intervened then, assuring Mr. Hasten that yes, we were fine at home, and yes, we were getting plenty to eat. "F—Nick probably hasn't had his growth spurt yet either," I added, looking at him hopefully.

Mr. Hasten glanced over at me. "Well, I'm hoping to see these numbers grow by next semester. If not, I might have to have a talk with your parents. Alright, Nick?"

Fang shrugged.

I rolled my eyes, handing his shoes back to him as he stepped off of the scale. "Very smooth, Fang. People are going to think you're mute."

He shrugged again. I punched him.

Looking over at me from the side of his eyes, the corners of his lips turned up in the ghost of a smile. "That's fine. One mute and one blind, what a wonderful family, don't you think?" I grinned.

"Okay, that's it!" Mr. Hasten announced, his voice reverberating around the gym. I really need to learn how he does that. It would be very handy with the flock while we're spread out in the air. "Now it's time for the push-up and sit-up tests. We'll start with push-ups. Partners, decide which one of you will go first; your partner will make sure you are doing them correctly. I want push-ups, people, not fish-flops!" I decided to go first, as Mr. Hasten walked over and plugged in a tape-player. "Follow the speed that the voice sets. If you're not doing it correctly, or you're slowing down too much, your partner will tell you. The second time this happens, you're out. Okay, are you guys ready?"

I laid flat on the mat face-down, with my hands propped up next to my head. Mr. Hasten pressed play, and a monotonous woman's voice came on. "This is the push-up section of the fitness test. I will start at one, and count to one hundred. Follow the rhythm as I count along. Ready? Up. Down. One. Up. Down. Two."

I knew I could have gone way beyond one hundred — Angel could probably do two hundred herself — but that might have seemed just slightly suspicious. Glancing around surreptitiously at fifty, I noticed that all the other girls had dropped out already, and there were only around fifteen boys left. Fang caught my eye and gave me a warning look. I frowned.

Is it just me, or are humans just too weak? I mean, come on. Fifty push-ups?

Nonetheless, I started pretending to breathe hard, and the dropped out at seventy two. I was one of the last five people still going. The incredulous look on Mr. Hasten's face was seriously priceless.

I'm sure you readers aren't really all that interested in our results, seeing as they aren't real tests of my superior skill anyways, so I'll just forego the rest of that test. However, I will tell you that despite Fang's warnings, he himself seemed to have no inhibitions about going all the way to one hundred on both the push-up and the sit-up tests. I'm starting to think that it might be because of Johannes, who scored an eighty seven on the push-up test and a one hundred on the sit-up.

Then again, that could be just my self-serving pride. Who knows.


End file.
